Rock me Cleopatra

Should be working, but I'm blogging instead. What is the world coming to? Well first of all, there is going to be a rock n' roll musical about Cleopatra. Yes, Cleopatra. It will likely star Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman as the hunky Marc Antony. I guess the director is trying to make an ancient version of "Chicago?" This could be kind of good or really, really bad.

For you doctor types, two ancient Egyptian mummies more than 3500 years old (dead?) have evidence for the earliest known malaria. Scientists have speculated that malaria was prevelant in Egypt, but before this hard evidence came to light this speculation was soley based on "historic" reports from Herodotus and random papyri. 

In slightly sadder news, AP is reporting that the Iraq's National Museum in Baghdad will most likely not reopen for another 2 years. The museum's director Amira Eidan I think put it best, that the reopning of the museum to the public must be the, "very last step in Baghdad's journey to absolute normalcy." Sad to say it, but will there ever be "absolute normalcy" in Iraq? I'm glad the museum is being cautious, but there is also something to be said about opening the museum as a moral booster to the country's citizens. The museum however does have a long way to go from being seen as a tool of the government to a resource of knowledge, history and pride to the Iraqi people. I can only hope that day will come in my lifetime.